Former Vice President Dick Cheney is standing by the torture programs he helped launch. (Photo: David Becker / Reuters)
Former Vice President Dick Cheney on Thursday expressed strong support for restarting the torture interrogation program he helped launch in the wake of 9/11.
In an appearance on Fox Business to discuss Gina Haspel’s confirmation hearing to become CIA director, Cheney said he “wholeheartedly” supports the so-called enhanced interrogation program, which includes torture techniques such as waterboarding, despite Congress having banned it in 2015.
“If it were my call I would not discontinue those programs,” he said, adding that he does not consider the methods included in them to be torture. “I’d have them active and ready to go, and I’d go back and study them and learn.”
Cheney’s comments come as Haspel, President Donald Trump’s pick to replace Mike Pompeo, faces increased scrutiny for her stance on torture as an interrogation technique. Though she said during her hearing Wednesday that she would not restart the defunct program if confirmed to head the CIA, she refused to weigh in on the morality of the methods.
Most Democrats are expected to oppose her confirmation due to her role overseeing torture interrogations at a CIA black site and because of her part in destroying videotapes that documented the interrogations.
With Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) also saying they will vote against her, Haspel will have to rely on a razor-thin margin to be confirmed.
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Dick Cheney
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Dick Cheney
Cheney waves as he arrives in Tbilisi with his wife on September 4, 2008 for a meeting with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili (not pictured). Cheney, who arrived from neighboring Azerbaijan, was due to meet with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili before travelling on later in the day to Ukraine, part of a tour of US allies in the former Soviet Union. (ZVIAD NIKOLAISHVILI/AFP/Getty Images)
Dick Cheney
In this April 17, 2013 file photo, former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney leaves after attending the funeral service of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at St. Paul's Cathedral, in London. In an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes," Cheney says he once feared that terrorists could use the electrical device that had been implanted near his heart to kill him and had his doctor disable its wireless function. (AP Photo/Olivia Harris, Pool, File)
Dick Cheney
Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko with former Vice President Dick Cheney. (ALEXANDER PROKOPENKO/AFP/Getty Images)
Dick Cheney
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (R) shakes hands with Vice President Dick Cheney after a joint press conference on September 9, 2008 in Rome's Palazzo Chigi. (FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP/Getty Images)
Dick Cheney
Former Vice President Dick Cheney is interviewed by Neil Cavuto for his program "Cavuto," on the Fox Business Network, in New York Monday, Dec. 9, 2013. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Dick Cheney
Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice listen as President George W. Bush speaks prior to signing the United States - India Nuclear Cooperation Approval and Nonproliferation Enhancement Act in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 8, 2008. (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
Dick Cheney
Vice President Dick Cheney speaks as actress Bo Derek, the mistress of ceremonies, looks on during Veterans Day ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery November 11, 2008 in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Dick Cheney
Vice President Dick Cheney (L) and his wife Lynne (2nd-L), welcome Vice President-elect Joe Biden (R) and his wife Jill as they arrive for a private meeting and to tour the official residence of the Vice President November 13, 2008, at the US Naval Observatory in Washington, DC. (PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)
Dick Cheney
Chief Justice of the United States, John Roberts, sits alongside Vice President Dick Cheney during the unveiling of National Portrait Gallery portraits of US President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, on December 19, 2008. (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
Dick Cheney
Senator and Vice President-elect Joe Biden speaks to Vice President Dick Cheney as his wife Jill looks on during a swearing in reenactment ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2009 in Washington, DC. (KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images)
Dick Cheney
Outgoing Vice President Dick Cheney arrives in a wheelchair before his successor Joe Biden (obscured) January 20, 2009 at the White House in Washington, D.C. prior to the inauguration of Barack Obama as 44th US president. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Dick Cheney
WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 10: Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney (R) introduces former U.S. Secretery of Defense Donald Rumsfeld at the Conservative Political Action conference (CPAC), on February 10, 2011 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Dick Cheney
In this file photo of Sept. 4, 2000, during his first run for president, Texas Gov. George W. Bush appears with his running-mate Dick Cheney in Naperville, Ill., where Bush used an expletive to describe a reporter while talking to Cheney, unaware an open microphone captured his remark. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
Dick Cheney
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas (R) and Vice-President Dick Cheney hold a joint press conference after their meeting at the Palestinian Authority's headquarters in Ramallah on March 23, 2008. (PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)
Dick Cheney
Lynne Cheney speaks about former Wyoming Treasurer Joe Meyer at a memorial service for him on Friday, Oct. 19, 2012, at the Cheyenne Hills Church in Cheyenne, Wyo. Former Vice President Dick Cheney, Meyer's longtime friend, stands behind her. (AP Photo/Ben Neary)
Dick Cheney
This Nov. 11, 2000 file photo shows then Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. George W. Bush and running mate Dick Cheney walk down a dirt road to meet with reporters, followed by Bush's dog Spot, near Crawford, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Draper, file)
Dick Cheney
In this July 17, 2012, file photo, former Vice President Dick Cheney returns to the Capitol to meet with Senate Republican leaders at a political strategy luncheon, in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Dick Cheney
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